TV series a retelling of ancient China's tung oil business

The TV series Yi Dai Hong Shang (Era of the Businessmen in Hongjiang), which revisits the prosperous era of tung oil business in Hongjiang, Central China's Hunan province, is running on CCTV-8, the State broadcaster China Central Television's channel specializing in dramas, since March 27.

Emerging from the Age of Exploration, tung oil, an extract from tung tree nuts, has been widely used as an important material to prevent the bottoms of ships from rotting, making it one of China's major exports to attract many foreign traders in the following centuries.

Set in Hongjiang, the historic port city that once accounted for 10 percent of the overall tung oil production in Hunan, the drama, based on real-life figures, chronicles the legendary stories of two tung oil tycoons and their family businesses, which have operated for over 100 years.

As an attempt to recreate the history, the TV drama was shot in Hongjiang, the historic city at the confluence of the Yuanjiang and Wujiang rivers, which made it the only passage for transportation between the west and east of China. The crew built replicas of an ancient port, dozens of ships and tung oil mills.

With the series spanning over one century, including the chaotic years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), the story also features a group of patriotic young people, with some even sacrificing their lives to fight the invaders.

As one of its draws, the series casts veteran actors Zhang Fengyi and Lee Li-chun as the two tung oil tycoons, with other major characters played by actor Zhang Rui and actress Zhang Hanyun, as well as veterans Ding Haifeng and Niu Li.